the buzz log

Love him or loathe him, Glenn Beck is undeniably buzzy. This past week, the conservative commentator was mocked like a nerd in junior-high gym class. There were accusations of frog-cooking (untrue), an unwelcome homecoming, and an "SNL" skit that's gone viral. And, as a special bonus, video surfaced of Beck from his early-morning radio DJ days. Below, a roundup of Mr. Beck's wild week.

Did Glenn Beck just boil a live frog?
Glenn Beck isn't above some Copperfield-like slight of hand. On Wednesday, he appeared to throw a live frog into boiling water in an attempt to draw some sort of analogy to President Obama's economic policies. Beck said, "We have been tossed quickly into boiling water, and don't forget what happens when you throw 'em in! When you throw 'em in, frogs into boiling water!" Beck tossed Kermit in and then appeared shocked that it didn't jump out. His reaction led many to believe he had killed the frog on live TV. Turns out, it wasn't true. As Beck himself said, the stunt "was fake." Still, that didn't stem the Web searches. Lookups on "glenn beck frog" and "glenn beck kills frog" both jumped like a, well, you know.

You can't go home again
And that's especially true if you happen to be a right-wing personality who hails from a liberal town. This past week, Mr. Beck paid a visit to his hometown, Mount Vernon, Washington. Instead of receiving a hero's welcome, the commentator was greeted with boos, jeers, and protests. The town's mayor, Bud Norris, presented Beck with a ceremonial key to the city, but the honor was largely drowned out by angry locals. One small-business owner put up a sign reading: "Glenn Beck & hatred not welcome here." The mayor of a neighboring city gave Jon Stewart a key to his city as a kind of diss to Beck. Later, on his show, Beck mocked the people who protested, saying they "don't have a life. They're out hugging salmon and setting them free."

Just call him "No-Gimmicks Glenn"
Here's a factoid you may not have known: Beck got his start as a morning radio DJ. And if you don't believe us, have we got a YouTube video for you! The clip shows a young Beck with his partner, a chap named Tim Hattrick, talking about how their radio show on Y95 in Arizona features "no gimmicks" and just great music. The commercial features a monkey and confetti but little to no dignity. And, not surprisingly, news of clip's existence set off a slew of searches. Lookups on "glenn beck radio dj" and "glenn beck y95" both shot through the roof. No word on whether or not the monkey went on to host a show on CNBC.

SNL spoofs Glenny Penny.
As the week came to an end, Beck faced one more indignity -- a brutal spoof on the Thursday edition of "Saturday Night Live." The clip features Fred Armisen as President Obama watching Jason Sudeikis as Glenn Beck on TV. "Beck" talks about how you can rearrange the letters in "Obama" to spell "aroma." When Beck sees that the letters don't exactly line up, he improvises by saying that, in a Russian (or is it German?) accent, "in mother Russia they do." It makes no sense, and, we suppose, that's kind of the point. Searches on "snl glenn beck" and "glenn beck spoof on snl" both scorched the Search box. Below, you can check out the SNL clip from Hulu...

Filed under: Radio

A political wife speaks out for herself, a conservative radio host gets stiffed by the Brits, and a little boy finds dogs are indeed his best friends. From the stories that stirred a nation (and beyond), here are some of the latest in the Buzz Week in Review.

Pen Is Mightier Than Falling on the Sword
Long-suffering wife Elizabeth Edwards willingly stepped into the spotlight's glare, also known as the Oprah show, the day before her memoir, "Resilience," hit shelves. Husband John, who had twice sought top White House spots, was on hand to again admit his adultery with Rielle Hunter. The former presidential hopeful is under grand jury scrutiny to see if campaign funds were involved in the sordid matter, but the week's focus and Web searches were on his better half.

Elizabeth, who pulled in six times more online lookups than John, talked about her cancer, trying to trust again, and how she doesn't care about the results of any paternity test of Hunter's baby. (John Edwards has denied he fathered Hunter's child.) The feedback hasn't been all sympathetic—a former speechwriter sees the real loser as America's poor, on whose behalf the Edwards spoke until scandal drowned them out.

A Savage Rejection
Not that Michael Savage had made impetuous plans to see Big Ben, but the syndicated radio jock was shocked at making the list of 22 people banned from Britain. Michael Alan Weiner (his real name) was included with preachers, gang leaders, and others that British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith deemed hate-mongering extremists.

The radio host has gone on a media blitz demanding an apology, threatening an all-American lawsuit, and asking listeners to boycott the old mother country and her goods (except for British attorneys). English media also covered the uproar, with extensive profiles and Savage quotations, and the Financial Times stiffly called the whole thing "a further embarrassment" for the home secretary, "already under fire over expenses claims." If Smith goes, Savage listeners will surely hear it first.

Little Lost Boy, Found
Three-year-old Joshua Childers wandered out of his Missouri mobile home unbeknownest to his parents and into the forest, to go to grandma's house five miles away. His disappearance prompted a heart-sickening search involving search crews, volunteers, sonar equipment, and everything from horses to donkeys. But, it was two rescue dogs—not even part of the search—who sniffed out the boy in a ravine a half-mile away. Despite two days and nights, Childer's main signs of wear have been dehydration, scratches, ticks, and the loss of his diaper and a single shoe. The planned reward for dogs Bear and Little Bill from Childer's grateful grandmother: some big bones.

Also buzzing this week...

• The White House Military Office director resigned Friday over his role in the Air Force One flyover fiasco...
• One theory why LA Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez used a female fertility drug...
• Cell phone-only households surpass landline-lubbers for the first time.

   

Filed under: Politics, Missing Persons, Radio, Wrap Up

We noticed a bit of a Buzz storm raging Tuesday over an unusual phrase: "spoon me to death." The surge seemed to correspond with searches on "movie quotes" and "kroq," so we surmised that some sort of big screen challenge had been thrown down to listeners of the popular Los Angeles radio station.

Challenge turns out to be the right word. One of the Buzz Log's Southern California connections reports that KROQ deejays Kevin and Bean sparked the spoony controversy by wondering aloud which movie or TV show featured the line, "What are you going to do, spoon me to death?" Cue the Search frenzy.

Our source tells us that the mystery has become a city-wide obsession. "Various movies and TV shows were re-watched (many of them bad ones)," he revealed to us on Wednesday morning, "but none have been confirmed to have [the line] so far." Some enterprising souls have even cashed in on the hysteria and begun selling "spoon me to death" T-shirts.

Does the line come from "Mystery Men"? "The Whole Nine Yards"? "Anger Management"? "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"? Intrepid investigators left behind a trail of Search spikes as they ventured into the wilds of the Web and dipped into their DVD collections. These would-be Sherlocks approached the problem from different angles, tweaking their searches to find "famous movie quotes," "famous funny movie quotes," "funny quotes," and even "famous quotes."

"Spoon me to death"—after this hubbub, it may indeed qualify as a famous quote. Wherever it comes from.

Filed under: Quotes, Radio, Movies and DVDs